


A Dream of David

by prairiecrow



Series: One Degree of Separation [3]
Category: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Genre: Dreams, Grief, M/M, Robot Dismemberment, Robot Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-31
Updated: 2011-07-31
Packaged: 2017-10-22 01:04:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/231942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prairiecrow/pseuds/prairiecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are days when his longing for David — hot and deep, disorienting as a fever — consumes Allen Hobby, even though he knows his son is long dead, even though he knows the child-mecha is forever lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dream of David

There are days when his longing for David — hot and deep, disorienting as a fever — consumes Allen Hobby, even though he knows his son is long dead, even though he knows the child-mecha is forever lost. There are mornings when all the data that passes before his eyes seems to move beyond a veil of profound disquiet. There are afternoons when he sits in meetings staring at nothing, offering points and counterpoints automatically, and it is a tribute to his genius that his mental absence is indistinguishable from the best effort that most other men are capable of. There are evenings when he returns to his apartments, still lost in his own thoughts, consumed with unspoken grief — but Joe, unlike anyone else who has seen his distraction, understands both the reason for it and the quality of his loss, for the lover-mecha likewise carries an unfading memory of the little robot who crossed his path one autumn night and changed his existence forever.

Joe does not ask questions. Instead he takes his owner in his slender arms and offers him the one comfort that will distract the human’s weary heart: a simulacrum of love, although there is something between them that makes it almost true.

They have both known what it is to lose David, and that binds them together forever.

Afterwards Hobby sinks into a deep and exhausted sleep, but he does not rest easy. The fever of desire and despair follows him even in his dreams.

*************

He is standing over a mecha deconstruction bed, looking down at David 2, who is lying on it looking up at him with bright unblinking eyes. It is naked, and utterly unselfconscious. Briefly he considers ordering the little machine to be strapped down for what is to come: while an ordinary mecha would permit its own conscious disassembly without so much as a twitch of protest, David 2 is special, and unique, and wants to hold onto its brief existence with an almost human intensity. He decides against it. The restraints would only cause it unnecessary additional distress.

“Is Mommy coming?” Those eyes, too brilliant to be human, are full of an eagerness more than mortal. “Will she be here soon?”

“Yes,” Hobby lies. He hasn’t even informed Monica Swinton about this procedure. It would upset her even more that David 2. “But before we can let you see her, we have to examine you. To make sure you haven’t been damaged during your adventures.” Another lie, but one that contains a grain of truth: David 2 will be examined, but at the end of it the mecha will be in no condition to see anyone ever again. He tries not to think ahead, to the numerous orders he will have to issue, the things that must be done before the intelligence of this machine is extinguished. He fails.

David 2’s eyes gleam with an even more avid light. “And then I can see my Mommy?”

Hobby lays a gentle hand on its small shoulder, his heart swelling into his throat. So much love, and he must destroy it in the interests of his greater God, on the altar of Science. If only...

But no. The child-mecha has been imprinted on another. Its undying devotion can never be Hobby’s, was never meant to be Hobby’s. His hope should be nothing more than ashes — but why, then, is it stirring so powerfully in his breast, struggling as fiercely as David 2 would if it knew what was to come?

“I promise,” he says, and reaches for the first of the tools on the table beside him. “Now close your eyes, David. And...” He looks away briefly, unable to bear the sight of his son’s face gazing at him so steadily. When he looks back the eyes are obediently shut. “And lie still, no matter what happens. It will be over soon, and then you can go home.”

With a finely trembling hand, he makes the first of many incisions.

*************

“Allen?”

An elegant artificial hand caresses his twisted face in the darkness. He does not feel it... or perhaps, in some dim corner of his nightmare, he does, for he turns his face against Joe’s shoulder and mutters in his sleep, plaintive and pained and questioning. Another caress, and Hobby’s troubled expression smooths out fractionally. He wraps his arms around his unsleeping companion more tightly, as if seeking comfort in that warmth where no heart beats.

Joe smiles with satisfaction at his own cleverness. He tenderly kisses away Hobby’s tears through the long hours of the night, and he wonders, with his cunning clockwork mind, what mysteries his human lover finds in the realm of mortal dreams.

THE END


End file.
